Monday, November 03, 2003

I'm not sure if Andrea's grandmother would have gotten sick even if she had finished her antibiotics.

They have to replace the mechanical heart valve she had put in about tree years ago, it was supposed to last the rest of her life.

They are going to be putting in a "biological" heart valve (one plus with this is that she won't need to be on anti-clotting [is that a word] medication) when they can get her blood count up to 37, she's at 35 right now.

They want to get her blood count up so they can perform bloodless surgery on her.

The doctor they have now is supposed to be the best in the field and he will do the surgery. I don't know if he works out of Cleveland Clinic or if he's coming in just to do the surgery.

My own opinion is that a doctor who cannot perform bloodless surgery is a hack, and they need the blood because they aren't as skilled at surgery as they should be, or they aren't as up-to-date on the latest techniques in their field as they should be.